I've Been Out for 2 Months? What?!

So today marks two months that I've been a missionary! Crazy! Time is flying by and I don't know if I should be happy or sad about it! 

So, this week was pretty crazy. Sister Sherrow and I both got really sick this week and spent 2 days at home, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday we had our first Zone conference. It was awesome. It was also really fun to see everyone in the zone since we just had transfers. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about transfers last week. I didn't get transferred and neither did Sister Sherrow. Woo! We think one of will be transferred this next transfer for sure, but we don't know. Whatever the Lord needs!

Nothing that exciting happened this week. I wish I could tell you something did. 

Yesterday at church I was sitting in Ward Council, just chillin' and listnin' and Brother Peterson, the ward mission leader, turned to me and asked me to teach gospel principles that day. He was busy during the week and forgot to ask someone to teach. 

Not a problem for me! I love teaching, so I happily accepted. 

Guess what the lesson was.

Go on guess.

Yup, it was the Law of Chastity.

http://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-39-the-law-of-chastity?lang=eng

My experiences with this lesson have always been awkward. I was especially worried about it since I am 19 and everyone in that class, minus my companion, is significantly older than me. Plus, it didn't help that I was only going to be able to see the lesson 5 minutes before class started. 

It was all good though. I went into it not letting myself think it would be awkward and it wasn't! Luckily, the class did most of the talking and I just had to guide the conversation. It was great. That's a really great class. 

Anyway, that's the most exciting thing this week. 

So, there are some really cool graveyards out here. Like, super cool! Sister Sherrow and I are going to go see some. :) I'll send some pictures. They are really, really cool. Can I say that enough? haha!

Alright, how did the reading assignment go this week? It was pretty darn good! I mean, it's all good, but I love what I learned from these chapters. I forgot my study journal today, so I hope I can remember everything, but I have my Book of Mormon, so it's all good :)

In these chapters Nephi is instructed by the Lord to build a ship, and then Nephi's family sails to the promised land (the Americas) in the ship. Nephi's family also receives the Liahona. 

I was able to really liken these scriptures to our lives today. Nephi's family received the Liahona as a guide. We have a guide like it today. The Book of Mormon and the Spirit. They go hand in hand. The Liahona would have things written on it that the family needed to see. The Book of Mormon has words in it (obviously), but that isn't what makes it our Liahona. When we read the Book of Mormon it guides us, and different things we read stick out to us and mean more to us depending on what's going on in our lives and what we need to see to guide and help us at that moment. 

The Spirit is like the arrows on the Liahona. The Spirit points us in the direction that we must go. If we are obedient to God's commandments and the Spirit then the Spirit continues to guide us, but if we are not obedient then the Spirit will not help us just like the arrows would stop working when Nephi's family was disobedient. 

One thing I want to point out and make clear before I move on:

When the Spirit leaves us it is because we close the door on him. The Spirit is always there ready to guide us, but when we are too disobedient we close the door and WE do not allow the Spirit to speak to us.

Ok, next thing I wanted to talk about.

God commands Nephi to build a ship. 

God commands us to do things. 
Nephi asks God how to build the ship and where to find the tools.
We need to ask God for the tools and blue prints for keeping His commandments.
God provides a way for Nephi to build the ship.
God provides a way for us to do as He asks.
Laman and Lemuel mock Nephi for following God and trusting in Him and following His crazy plans.
People look at us and think we're crazy for following the commandments.

Now remember, GOD PROVIDES A WAY. He gives us the tools and the blue prints to accomplish all that He wants us to do. 

This story reminds me of a personal story I'd like to share. Laman and Lemuel mocked and laughed at Nephi. They thought it was silly that Nephi would do such a thing. Nephi is given the power from God to shock Laman and Lemuel and to help them understand why Nephi was building the ship and then they changed and helped Nephi.

When I was in junior high, I had a friend that swore all the time. It was disgusting and it bothered me. I told him several times that I did not like such language and he would laugh and ignore me. I came up with a master plan to get him to stop and to understand why I did not swear. I should say that God and I came up with the master plan (we make a pretty good team). I brought a For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet to school. I opened up the part about language and had my friend read it. God gave me the power to shock him. :) It was pretty awesome. I've never heard that friend say a bad word again. He respected why I didn't use bad language and changed so that he wouldn't use it either. He actually kept the pamphlet and wanted to read the whole thing. I was pretty excited. 

Another thing I wanted to talk about was chapter 18 verse 16. This is after Nephi has been tied up and Laman and Lemuel finally untie him. Nephi says:

"Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did Praise him all the day long: and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions."

We need to be more like Nephi. Everyone, I think, is guilty of going to God and saying "hope ya' know I'm having a hard time." Read this talk by Quentin L. Cook. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/hope-ya-know-we-had-a-hard-time?lang=eng. It's a great talk and has changed the way I look at my problems. Nephi never said, "hope ya' know I had a hard time." He said "yes, I have hard times, but I don't dwell on them because through the Lord I am made strong. I can overcome anything. I have a loving Heavenly Father, so what else matters?"

I love this gospel. I know that it's true. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know that He loves you. I know that He has a plan for me. I know that He has a plan for you too.

This week we will read 1 Nephi 21-22 and then we'll be done with 1 Nephi! Yay!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Heywood

P.S. If you want to read the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet, here's the link. It's super awesome, so I highly suggest you do read it, no matter your age. It's applicable to all, adult, teen and child. (I do have to point out thought that the one I gave my friend was different. They "modernized" it a little while ago.)

http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/ForTheStrengthOfYouth-eng.pdf

 P.P.S  Oh my gosh! I always forget to say something!

We had dinner the other night with the 3 cutest ladies in our ward! Sisters Baughn, Mitchell and Klovski. They are so awesome! Dinner was great and we shared a new message with them. The message was of course about missionary work, but we tried something that my dad suggested to me in a letter. My dad told me that people don't like being told what to do. So true. My Dad suggested that we make a list and let people choose how to do missionary work. It was a success. Sister Baughn even thought of something else that she could do, it was awesome. They all made plans for how to do missionary work and how we can help them accomplish those plans. We will follow up on Friday. Thanks Dad for the idea! I think this will be really successful! Basically, my dad is the smartest person ever.  :)